Restoring Health: body, mind and spirit

Daily Archives: December 8, 2009

By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

Vancouverites put tremendous energy into the Winter Olympics. The lengthy preparations were indeed a marathon.

The world’s most famous Olympic race is the marathon. The original Battle of the Marathon in 490 B.C was just twenty-two miles from embattled Athens. A Greek soldier ran all the way, day and night, to Athens to give his dying words: “Rejoice. We have conquered”.

In 1896, the modern-day Olympics were revived in Greece, spreading throughout the globe. Each one of us in our own way is running an Olympic marathon every day of our life. The Bible tells us: “Run with patience the race set before us.” (Hebrews 12:1) Dr. William Barclay commented: “It is easy to begin the race of life but hard to finish. The one thing necessary for life is staying-power, and that is what so many people lack. It was suggested to a certain very famous man that his biography should be written while he was still alive. He absolutely refused to give permission, and his reason was: ‘I have seen so many men fall out at the last lap.’ It is easy to wreck a noble life or a fine record by some closing foolishness.”

There were many gold medals won by Canadian athletes. Winning is exciting. Many athletes realized that the Olympics are about more than gold, more than just winning. Olympics co-founder Pierre de Coubertin, inspired by a sermon at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, wrote the following ‘creed’ for the Olympics: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” The Christian community in Greater Vancouver came together for the Olympics across denominational and ethnic barriers to affirm that life is about more than gold. The wider Christian community played its part in truly welcoming the world to Vancouver. Many athletes shared their experiences of what it is like to win medals, and what is worth more than gold to them. You can watch them online.

Probably one of the most famous ‘Olympic runners’ is the apostle Paul, a former Rabbi who was knocked off his horse while racing to Damascus, Syria. He often used Olympic Marathon language to communicate his heart: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown of laurel that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly…” (1 Corinthians 9:24-26).

Paul’s dying words were profoundly Olympic: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” As Bishop Michael Baughen depicts it,

“The relay runner is pounding round the track, using every ounce of energy, heading for the hand-over point. Ahead of him is the next runner in the relay, feet beginning to move in anticipation, eyes on the runner coming towards him, his hand now outstretched to take the baton at the appropriate moment and then to run and run, while the man he took the baton from collapses breathless on to the grass. Paul is pounding towards the end.”

The Vancouver Olympics came in like a storm and then was gone. The Gold medals were soon a distant memory. The lasting question is how your daily marathon is doing? Are you stretching each day towards the finish line? Are you running the race of life in such a way as to get the prize? Life is truly about more than gold.

My prayer for the various Olympics around the world is that the love of God will pour through us in the gift of hospitality so that the world will come to know the prize that lasts forever.

To receive a signed copy within North America, just send a $20 cheque (USD/CAN) to ED HIRD, 102-15168 19th Avenue, Surrey, BC, Canada V4A 0A5.

– In order to obtain a signed copy of the prequel book Battle for the Soul of Canada, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #102-15168 19th Avenue, Surrey, BC, Canada V4A 0A5. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $4.99 CDN/USD.

By the Rev. Dr. Ed Hird

Where would the NHL be today without artificial ice? Where would Coca-Cola and Pepsi be without the ice-cold ‘pause that refreshes’? Where would your family dinner be ‘at’ without your trusty kitchen fridge? How easy it has been for humanity to produce heat by fire. Yet we have quickly forgottenhow hard it has been for humanity to produce cold by any means.

The earliest method of refrigeration was the storage of food in caves and cold springs. This method of storing food in cold places slowly changed, as people began keeping food in their cellars, in their outdoor window boxes, in the snow, or underwater in nearby lakes, streams, or wells. For most of human history, perishable food have been preserved by drying, smoking, pickling, heating, and icing.

The ancient Romans were as fond of putting ice in their drinks as we are today. In the 1st Century AD, no Roman banquet would have been complete without the provision of lavish amounts of ice or snow for guests to put into their wine goblets. The famous Roman philosopher Seneca condemned snow-shops and ice-cold drinks as a clear sign of ever-growing decadence. The Roman emperor Elgabalus used donkey trains to transport a literal mountain of snow to his hot summer villa: an early form of air conditioning! Mideastern Sultans used their camel-driven postal system to transport snow all the way from the Lebanese Mountains to Cairo, Egypt. In the early days of the British Empire, perishable Norwegian ice would be sent 8,000 miles around Cape Good Hope to colonies in India.

The invention of the icebox led to more efficient refrigeration. Ice was delivered to houses by the IceMan, and was used in wooden iceboxes that were lined in tin or zinc and insulated with sawdust or seaweed. In 1868, ice blocks cost 5 times more per pound than first-quality beefsteak. By 1890 the U.S. was exporting 25 million tons of ice cut from her northern lakes.

The irony of artificial refrigeration is that some of its greatest breakthroughs came in the chilly land of Scotland. From 1750 to 1850, Scotland was the world center of scientific and engineering thought. It was in 1748 that William Cullen of Scotland demonstrated that the evaporation of ether in a partial vacuum produces cold.

Ninety years later in 1837, James Harrison, a Scottish journalist, moved to Australia from Glasgow and set about designing his own refrigeration machine. In 1855 he succeeded in creating and patenting an ether liquid-vapour compression fridge. The compressor worked by exerting pressure on a refrigerant gas, forcing it to pass through a condenser, where it cooled down and liquefied. The liquid then circulated through the refrigeration coils and vaporized again, cooling down the surrounding air.

Australia was in desperate need of refrigeration because of its lack of natural ice needed for keeping food cool. Harrison was convinced that the economic salvation of Australia lay in the marketing of her millions of sheep and cows to the millions of Europeans. But without refrigeration, it was impossible to ship the mutton across the 100 Degree-plus Equator.

Harrison spent his last penny to equip the Norfolk ship with a chemical freezing mixture for twenty tons of beef and mutton at Melbourne. But when the meat arrived in London, it was discovered that the chemical tanks had leaked and ruined the entire cargo. As a result, James Harrison went into bankruptcy, even being forced to sell his successful newspaper business. Though Harrison was financially devastated, he did open the door for the economic salvation of Australia. Other successful refrigerated voyages followed, which finally convinced Europe that Australia had something to offer, and that frozen food could be both safe and delectable.

There is a wise old saying: ‘As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him.’ (Proverbs 25:13). I give thanks to God for James Harrison the determined Scottish inventor who CHANGED Australia, who CHANGED our workplaces, who CHANGED our family kitchens by his invention of the cold. God grant us the Serenity to accept the things that we cannot CHANGE, the courage to CHANGE the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

To receive a signed copy within North America, just send a $20 cheque (USD/CAN) to ED HIRD, 102-15168 19th Avenue, Surrey, BC, Canada V4A 0A5.

– In order to obtain a signed copy of the prequel book Battle for the Soul of Canada, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #102-15168 19th Avenue, Surrey, BC, Canada V4A 0A5. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD. This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $4.99 CDN/USD.